50th anniversary edition of When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit to be released

A special 50th anniversary edition of Judith Kerr’s classic children’s book, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, featuring the original line drawings will be released this autumn, publisher HarperCollins has announced.

Tacy Kneale, daughter of the late author and illustrator, will also record a new audiobook of this much-loved story. 

Based on Kerr’s early life and her family’s escape from Nazi Germany when she was only nine years old, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit is told from Anna’s perspective, who is too busy with schoolwork and tobogganing to listen to the talk of Hitler. 

But one day, she and her brother are rushed out of Germany in alarming secrecy, away from everything they know, to embark on an extraordinary journey to a new life. 

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit has sold more than three million copies worldwide and features on education curriculums across the globe. It was described by author Michael Morpurgo as “the most life-enhancing book
you could ever wish to read”. 

Kerr – who died in 2019 aged 95 – was inspired to write it after taking her children to see The Sound of Music. She said: “After the film, they said: ‘Now we know what it was like for Mummy when she was a little girl’, and I thought, No, it wasn’t like that at all. 

“As well as giving me a chance to tell my children about my experience, the book was also a way for me to remember my parents, and for them to be remembered.” 

• READ MORE – In one of her last interviews before her death, the celebrated author and illustrator, whose family fled the Nazis, talks books and antisemitism – over tea, of course: Judith Kerr: ‘If I can’t be sentimental at my age, when will I start?’.